The agreement will pay out shareholders $210 per share in cash
Shares of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) are up 4.9% to trade at $202.85 at last check, after the videogame concern etched a take-private deal with Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners worth $55 billion. The agreement will pay out shareholders $210 per share in cash. In response, EA surged to a record high of $203.75 right out of the gate
Today's surge comes just after the shares toppled resistance at the $180 level Friday, marking its best single-day percentage pop since 2019, as well as its third-straight weekly gain. The stock is today on track for its fifth positive session in six.
Back at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), EA's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.69 stands higher than 73% of annual readings. This indicates options traders have been much more bullish than usual in the last two months.
Drilling down tot today's options activity, 20,000 calls and 8,477 puts have already crossed the tape, which is 21 times the intraday average volume. The most popular contract is the October 205 call, where new positions are being opened
It's also worth noting that Electronic Arts stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) stands at 83 out of 100. This means EA has tended to outperform volatility expectations in the past year.